In an essay in today’s Washington Post, “Raising free-spirited black children in a world set on punishing them,” Stacia Brown sounds frustrated with the Free-Range Kids movement. She dearly wishes African-American kids could go outside and Free-Range without having to worry about actual discrimination and danger. (Me too!) And she is particularly angered that often low income African-American families who can’t or don’t supervise their kids every single second are not given the benefit of the doubt by Child Protective Services: Skenazy’s site is filled with stories of parents whose families have run afoul of Child Protective Services by allowing their children to walk or play unaccompanied. Race and class aren’t often mentioned in the posts, but they should be. Those factors often make the difference between a successfully closed CPS investigation and a case left open pending a felony charge, which results in a loss of employment, which results in further inability to afford safe, reliable childcare. Skenazy’s blog recently covered Laura Browder’s case without referencing that the family was black (though it’s discussed with some nuance in the comments section). That detail matters. Black mothers — especially those who are poor or single — are disproportionately criminalizedfor their parenting choices. There is no such thing as a free-range kid in low-income black families. They are more likely to be labeled as “abandoned” and “neglected” than as free. She’s absolutely right. When I interviewed Diane Redleaf, founder of the Family Defense Center in Chicago, a non-profit that fights to keep families from being torn apart by CPS, she told me “most [of our clients] are impoverished and many are immigrants and minorities.” All the more reason, then, to fight for the right of all families to be free of government interference when it comes to how we raise our kids. That’s a goal I think Brown and all Free-Rangers share. “That the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” So said President Kennedy. And the rights of all families are diminished when the cops or CPS rule that any unsupervised child is a neglected child. We all want to raise our kids the best we can, without threat of criminal or civil action simply because, for reasons of choice or circumstance, we cannot conform to some insane ideal of parenting. We are all in this together. – L

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What is it and how can it help me? Six Thinking Hats® is a simple yet powerful tool created by Edward De Bono based on a principle of parallel thinking: everyone thinking in the same direction, from the same perspective, at the same time. It helps people step outside the confines of fixed positions and one way of thinking. Western thinking style is based on adversarial debate: people thinking and interacting from differing perspectives and positions. This tool enables us to look at things in a collaborative way, beyond our normal perspective to see new opportunities.When does it work best? To achieve the service improvements, you will have to change the way you do things. This means thinking up and considering new ideas. If you evaluate the change from a number of perspectives, you and your team will have a more rounded outlook on the ideas. This tool helps you do this. For example, how often does your team think of a new way of doing things only to meet an obstacle put forward by other members of the team? (black hat thinking). By using this tool to take a balanced perspective, you and your team can see the ideas from a balanced viewpoint, moving the best, most viable ideas forward.

Six Thinking Hats can help you think better-with its practical and uniquely positive approach to making decisions and exploring new ideas. It is an approach that thousands of business managers, educators, and government leaders around the world have already adopted with great success.

"The main difficulty of thinking is confusion," writes Edward de Bono, long recognized as the foremost international authority on conceptual thinking and on the teaching of thinking as a skill.

"We try to do too much at once. Emotions, information, logic, hope, and creativity all crowd in on us. It is like juggling with too many balls." The solution? De Bono unscrambles the thinking process with his "six thinking hats":

Through case studies and real-life examples, Dr. de Bono reveals the often surprising ways in which deliberate role playing can make you a better thinker. He offers a powerfully simple tool that you-and your business, whether it's a start-up or a major corporation-can use to create a climate of clearer thinking, improved communication, and greater creativity. His book is an instructive and inspiring text for anyone who makes decisions, in business or in life.

Find out if a menstrual cup is right for you
By Elisa Ross, MD | 2/9/15

For years, women have used either tampons or pads to collect blood and protect clothing during their periods. But a menstrual cup provides women with an alternative to these traditional methods. Some are long-lasting and reusable, while others are disposable.Menstrual cup basics and advantages

Aren’t sure what a menstrual cup is? It’s a flexible cup designed for use inside the vagina during your period to collect menstrual blood. The cup actually collects the menstrual flow rather than absorbing it like tampons or pads do. Most menstrual cups are made of silicone or rubber. I always remind my patients that if they’re latex-sensitive, they should make certain to purchase a cup made entirely of silicone. You can use a cup all the way through your cycle, but you might need to change it more often on heavy flow days to guard against leaking. Remove and rinse your cup after 12 hours, or when leaking occurs. Advantages of menstrual cups include:

Lower costs and less landfill waste. Some cups are designed for long-term use – even years – providing a significant cost savings over tampons and pads. Since you can reuse them, there’s less waste to clog up our landfills and fewer trees sacrificed to make the paper-based alternatives. Keep in mind that some cups are designed to be disposable. Make sure you read the box label carefully before buying if you want a reusable one.

Less embarrassing odor. You won’t have to worry about embarrassing menstrual odor wafting out at the most inopportune times, since the fluid doesn’t get exposed to air as it does with pads and tampons.

Vaginal pH and beneficial bacteria stay in place. Tampons absorb all your vaginal fluid along with the blood, which may disturb the delicate pH and bacterial balance in your vagina.

Fewer visits to the pharmacy. Even if you replace your cup once a year, you’ll still make 11 fewer trips to the pharmacy than you would if you used the disposable paper-based methods.

More time between changes. You need to change tampons every four to eight hours, depending on flow. You can go up to 12 hours with a menstrual cup before emptying.

Intercourse is possible with the cup in place. It’s possible to have intercourse while the cup is in your vagina. It’s really a personal choice whether you want to remove it first or not.

Easy to use. Anyone who has used tampons, especially the kind without applicators, should have little trouble learning how to insert a menstrual cup. If you’ve ever used a diaphragm for birth control, you’ll have even less trouble learning how to use your new cup. Simply fold it so it looks like a tampon, aim it toward the back of the vagina and give a little push. It should actually draw itself up. When inserted properly, you shouldn’t feel its presence at all.

Menstrual cup disadvantages include:

More mess. The main disadvantage that my patients note is that cup emptying can be messy. With practice, most women will work out a suitable technique and quickly get over the “ick factor.” Also, cleaning it in a public bathroom may cause embarrassment to some.

Difficulty of insertion for some. Younger girls and those who’ve never had intercourse may find it difficult to insert the cups. And, if you have an IUD in place, using a menstrual cup could pull the IUD strings and dislodge it. Ask your OB/GYN or primary care physician about his or her preferences in these instances.

Possible fit problems. Sometimes individual anatomy can make proper use of the cup difficult. For instance, if you have fibroids or a dropped uterus, it may not fit in place properly.

Cup removal issues. Removing the cup can sometimes present more of a learning curve. You shouldn’t pull on the stem. Instead, pinch the base and pull. The collected fluid then empties into the toilet. Rinse under tap water and reinsert.

Maintenance. After each cycle, sterilize the cup using boiling water or a sterilizing solution used for baby bottles.

The only way to know if a menstrual cup is the right device for you is to buy one and give it a try! They come in various formations and sizes, so sometimes, if the first one doesn’t suit you, the next one will do the trick. You can find them at drug stores or buy them online.